What is appointment setting? Appointment Setting is integral to the business development process for every company. It connects the business with its clients by scheduling meetings between the sales personnel and prospects to convert them into customers. Appointment setting lead generation involves creating a prospect list and verified databases, starting a dialog with prospects, nurturing the relationship and eventually setting up appointments with the sales team. It is a slow and cumbersome process, but the objective is to engage with a prospective customer and helping the sales team to maximize conversion. What are the steps involved in appointment setting?
- Creating a buyer persona: The first step in appointment setting is identifying the target audience. The best way to determine the prospect is to create a buyer persona which refers to recognizing the common characteristics an ideal buyer should have. It will let the team know whom to target, approach, and understand their interest in the products and services. For instance, in B2B lead generation, some factors for creating a buyer persona are the industry vertical, company size, location, and revenue.
- Creating a prospect list: After identifying the prospects, the next stage in the appointment setting process is to create a list. Agents skilled in appointment setting scrutinize the databases and select the best leads. Leads can be gathered from sources such as social media including Facebook and LinkedIn and using lead generation tools.
- Lead scoring: The leads are further selected based on their assigned scores. Predefined criteria are used to give scores to all the leads, and those with high scores are considered further for nurturing.
- Establish contact: Agents contact the identified prospects on behalf of the business they’re working for and introduce the company and its products and services to them. They initiate the process of lead nurturing and cultivating a relationship with them before passing on the lead to the sales team.
- Scheduling the appointment: Next, the staff fixes the appointment between the prospects and the sales team to take the conversation ahead. It is a golden opportunity for the sales team as it can aim for maximum conversions with access to verified leads and boost the company’s sales.
- Appointment confirmation: The team of agents from appointment-setting/lead generation companies confirm the meeting with the prospects via email, phone, or messages.
- Follow-up: Last but not least, the follow-up with the clients is critical to the success of the appointment-setting process. Agents gather feedback from the prospects and learn about their experience interacting with the sales personnel. It helps the agents build and enhance the relationship with prospective buyers. The feedback also helps them improve the quality of the appointment-setting process and increase their efficiency.
Why should a business outsource appointment-setting services? Companies benefit hugely from appointment-setting lead-generation companies. The service is becoming popular as businesses rely on experts saving time and money. Sales team spend their time in conversion rather than cold calling, verifying contact lists and setting up meetings.
- Cost reduction: The service allows businesses to reduce the cost of the services. It need not depend on the in-house team and set up a dedicated department. The company need not further invest in infrastructure. Instead, the business can outsource the service and get expertise on demand. Outsourcing is a good option because these services are available at affordable rates while there is no loss in quality. Businesses need not worry about managing the appointment setters, nor do they have to worry about deploying additional workforce as the demand for the services soars. So, it’s prudent to outsource the service to a reliable company that can offer services at a budget-friendly price.
- Quality assurance: It’s good to have an independent team of appointment setting agents and a third party that manages the entire service. Companies that offer lead generation services also provide appointment setting, helping businesses streamline the process and speed up lead conversions. They can choose companies dedicated to providing the service with a proven track record and benefit from their expertise and experience to get access to market-qualified and sales-qualified leads.
- Speeds up the lead conversion process: One of the most significant advantages a business gets by outsourcing appointment setting is that it can fast-track the lead generation and conversion process. Professional appointment setters verify the prospects’ interests and availability and fix appointments. They connect the sales team with people who have implied their interest in the products and services. These leads have already moved from the awareness to the consideration stage and may be at the buying stage in the sales funnel. It fast-tracks the lead conversion process as the sales team can close more deals quickly. It can work more efficiently as it need not invest time in nurturing all the leads; they need to focus only on sales and market-qualified leads.
- Scalability: Another major advantage of outsourcing professional appointment services is that these services are available on demand. Companies can scale their requirements up and down and pay only for the services they have availed. It again proves to be cost-efficient and financially feasible for the business.
Conclusion If businesses are stuck doing their the appointment fixing, it will delay their lead generation and conversion process. It will further the customer acquisition process and impact the business’s profitability. Companies can save a lot of time with the help of appointment-setting lead-generation companies, which would otherwise be spent on getting the appointment-setting process right. They can get access to high-quality leads and increase sales. How can Markable Solutions help? If you are looking forward to getting support for appointment-setting services and need a trained and experienced professional staff, consider Markable Solutions. We are a leading company that offers appointment-setting services and helps businesses fast-track their lead generation and conversion process. Markable Solutions has been the go-to partner for businesses looking forward to outsourcing appointment-setting services. Our experts have been our source of strength, making us the undisputed leader amongst appointment-setting lead generation companies in the US, offering several critical back-office support services, including appointment setting. Call our team to know more, and we’ll explain how we can help you with appointment setting and other services to make your lead generation and conversion process more efficient.